Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he understood Xi Jinping was concerned about the situation in Ukraine, a surprising acknowledgment of friction with Beijing over the war after a week of stunning Russian losses on the ground.
Since Russia’s invasion, China has walked a careful line, criticizing Western sanctions against Russia but not supporting or assisting in the military campaign.
“We highly value the balanced position of our Chinese friends when it comes to the Ukraine crisis,” Putin told Xi in their first meeting since the war began.
“We understand your questions and concerns about this. During today’s meeting, we will of course explain our position.”
Xi did not mention Ukraine in his public remarks, nor was it mentioned in a Chinese readout of their meeting, which took place in Uzbekistan on the sidelines of a regional summit.
Pressure on Putin?
Beijing’s support is widely seen as essential for Moscow, which needs markets for its energy exports and sources to import high-tech goods as it faces sanctions imposed by the West.
Members of Ukrainian artillery fire a self-propelled gun on Thursday along part of the southern front line in the ongoing war against Russian invasion. (Ihor Tkachov/AFP/Getty Images)
The last time the two men met they signed a “no-limits” friendship agreement between their two countries. Three weeks later, Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Russian president’s comments suggested a Chinese shift toward a more critical stance, at least privately. Ian Bremmer, a professor of political science at Columbia University, said it was the “first public signal that Putin acknowledged pressure to back down.”
“Russia has become a pariah to the G7 because of its invasion. China wants no part of this,” he wrote on Twitter, referring to the Group of Seven major industrialized nations.
White House spokesman John Kirby said China should reject Russia’s invasion: “The whole world should be aligned against what Mr. Putin is doing,” Kirby told CNN.
“This is not the time for any kind of business as usual with Mr. Putin.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later told reporters that the closed-door talks with China had been excellent.
“European friends” of Kyiv
In Kyiv, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where she told him that Ukraine’s accession process to the European Union was on track.
Air raid sirens sounded twice during their meeting, a reminder that Russia has long-range weapons that can reach anywhere in Ukraine even though the capital has been spared attacks in recent weeks.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv ahead of a press conference on Thursday. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)
Ukraine became a candidate to join the EU in June, in a bold geopolitical move hailed by both Kyiv and Brussels as a “historic moment”.
Von der Leyen said the European Union could never match the sacrifices Ukrainians make or compensate them for their fight for democracy and humanity, but promised: “You will have your European friends by your side as long as needed”.
EU sanctions on Russia are having a deep and visible impact, he said, and while supporting is costly, “freedom is priceless.”
After a week of the fastest Ukrainian gains since the first weeks of the war, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces were now strengthening defenses and it would be difficult for Kyiv’s troops to keep up the pace of their advance.
Putin has yet to publicly comment on the setback his forces suffered after Ukrainian troops made a swift armored assault across the front line last week. Russian troops hastily abandoned dozens of tanks and other armored vehicles.
Kyiv says it recovered more than 8,000 square kilometers, almost equivalent to the size of the island of Cyprus. The speed of the advance has boosted Ukraine’s morale, pleased Western sponsors who have provided weapons, intelligence and training, and raised hopes of more significant gains before winter arrives.
More challenges for Ukraine
Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, said it would still be a tough fight to regain control of his region from Russia, which recognizes it as an independent state controlled by separatists.
Cars destroyed amid Russian attacks in Ukraine are seen on a street near apartment buildings in the Saltivka neighborhood of Kharkiv. (Leo Correa/The Associated Press)
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said in an online post: “We must avoid euphoria. There is still a lot of work to be done to liberate our lands, and Russia has a large of weapons”.
There was also no let up in Russia’s daily missile attacks on Ukraine, a day after it fired cruise missiles at a reservoir near Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown.
Authorities in the city of Kharkiv said Russian shells had hit a high-pressure gas pipeline, while a rescue operation was underway in the city of Bakhmut with four people suspected to be trapped under the rubble after of a strike, Pavlo Kyrylenko, regional governor of Donetsk. said
Russian forces have launched attacks on several settlements on the Kharkiv front line in the past 24 hours, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Thursday.
But Britain’s defense ministry said in an update that Ukrainian forces were continuing to consolidate their control over newly liberated land in the region.
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Thursday that her country would supply Ukraine with two more multiple rocket launchers and 50 armored personnel carriers. Lambrecht also said that an agreement with Germany, Greece and Ukraine had almost been completed, whereby Germany would send 40 Marder infantry vehicles to Greece while Greece, in turn, would transfer 40 of its BMP-1 infantry vehicles of Soviet construction in Ukraine.
The remains of an exploded shell are seen in Verbivka, Ukraine, as a cyclist passes in the background on Thursday. (Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images)
The United States on Thursday imposed new sanctions on 22 individuals and two entities that had facilitated Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Treasury Department said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had previously warned Washington to tread carefully, saying any decision to supply Kyiv with longer-range missiles for US-made HIMARS systems would cross a “red line”. and would make the United States “a direct party to the conflict.” .”
The 35-nation Board of Governors of the UN nuclear watchdog passed a resolution on Thursday demanding Russia end its occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, diplomats said at the closed-door meeting .